If you have been added to a WhatsApp or Telegram stock-market class, pause before installing anything or sending money. Do the same with a crypto trading invitation. Check who is contacting you, which app they want you to use and who will receive the payment. SEBI's fake-app warning describes a trap involving apparent profits, pressure to invest more and blocked withdrawals.
Already transferred money? Stop further payments and call 1930. Report at cybercrime.gov.in. Kerala Police's cyber-safety guidance directs financial-fraud victims to these channels immediately. Contact your bank too; do not wait for the group administrator to approve a refund.
How the group turns into a money trap
An advertisement for free lessons can lead into a WhatsApp or Telegram group, followed by instructions to install a trading app. Kerala Police describes this sequence. Whether you followed an ad or were added without asking, treat the invitation as unverified.
Next comes the authority figure. Do not treat titles such as “professor”, “mentor” or “market expert” as verified qualifications. SEBI's stock-market-guru warning describes people presenting themselves as trusted experts, offering exclusive groups and surrounding followers with fabricated or exaggerated success stories. Praise from other members and screenshots of winning trades are not independent checks.
The pitch then becomes exclusive access: an “institutional account”, special stock purchases or preferential IPO allotment. The exchanges' joint warning describes fake institutional accounts promising special privileges without an official trading or demat account. If someone uses “OTC” or other technical language, ask for a clear explanation and independently verify the arrangement before paying.
You move to an app or website showing a rising balance. Treat those figures as unverified. SEBI describes fake profits followed by pressure to add money or borrow. Do not take a dashboard, order history or congratulatory message as proof that a real investment exists.
A small withdrawal may work first. Delhi Police Academy's investment-fraud scenario describes allowing an initial withdrawal to encourage larger deposits, followed by charges when the person wants money back. A successful test withdrawal therefore does not establish that the platform is genuine. Do not send another payment just because the first appeared to work.
When you want out, another payment is demanded. Kerala Police describes demands for tax or fees before withdrawal. NSE Clearing separately warns about forged letters demanding money over supposedly frozen investment accounts. Do not pay a group administrator to “unfreeze” funds, release profits or settle a claimed final charge.
A familiar name or video is not verification
Scammers can impersonate financial institutions and copy registered brokers' apps or websites, as the exchanges warn. Check a claimed SEBI-registered adviser through independently obtained contact details. A certificate screenshot or a real firm's name should be the start of verification, not the end.
Treat a video apparently featuring a famous investor with the same caution. NSE's investor-awareness advisory warns about deepfake videos alongside fake apps and misleading tips. Do not decide authenticity from a convincing face or voice. Check the claimed endorsement through the person's or organisation's official channels, reached independently of the group.
Warning signs that deserve a pause
SEBI's scam-check guidance flags assured returns, unusually high returns, unexplained complex strategies and pressure to act immediately. Pause when the offer includes:
- Guaranteed profits, fixed daily earnings or claims that losses are impossible.
- An urgent deadline that discourages checking the person or payment destination.
- An explanation you cannot understand, followed by pressure to trust the “expert”.
- Requests to pay a mentor's personal account, an unrelated business or an unverified UPI ID.
CERT-In advises against transfers to personal accounts and recommends using a registered broker's official app or website. Do not accept “temporary collection account” as an explanation without independent confirmation. Our UPI scam guide covers payment precautions. The same pitch can also come from a new online friend or a match; our matrimonial and dating fraud guide covers that route.
Check the entity, app and destination separately
Search SEBI's Investment Adviser register for the claimed adviser's name and registration number. Compare the listed contact information with what you were given. Contact the genuine firm yourself and ask whether the person, group, website and offer belong to it. Do not let the group supply the contact who performs this check.
For a claimed stockbroker, use NSE's broker lookup or BSE's member directory, both named in the joint exchange advisory. The advisory points to registered members, authorised persons, genuine apps, websites and designated client bank accounts. Match exact details, not merely a similar name.
Check the app through the broker's verified official website and its official store listing. NSE advises checking trading apps against its app list and downloading through official stores. Reject an installation file or replacement link sent by the group. Do not rely on an app's name or icon.
Ask the verified broker to confirm that your account exists and payments will be credited to your own client trading account. NSE says funds should go only to the stockbroker's registered client bank accounts. Do not substitute a mentor's personal account or an unrelated recipient.
Use SEBI Check before paying
SEBI launched validated UPI handles and SEBI Check on 1 October 2025. Its rollout notice explains that a registered intermediary's UPI ID combines “@valid” with the bank name and a category suffix, such as “.brk” for brokers. A thumbs-up inside a green triangle appears when you pay such a handle, and SEBI says its absence is a caution that the payee may not be authorised.
Open SEBI Check independently to verify the proposed UPI ID or bank account and IFSC. Do not accept an administrator's screenshot as your verification. SEBI's circular makes this UPI route optional for investors, so another payment method is not automatically fraudulent. Still verify its destination. Treat the result as a payment-recipient check, never as approval of promised returns.
If you have already sent money
Stop deposits, “tax” payments and attempts to unlock the balance. Call 1930 and file the cybercrime report immediately, following the reporting route in SEBI's warning. Give the available payment details rather than waiting to assemble a perfect evidence folder. Follow the instructions you receive and keep the acknowledgement.
Contact your bank through its official app, website or the number on your card. Explain that you were deceived into an investment payment, identify each transaction and ask what can be stopped or traced. Get a complaint reference. If you also shared passwords or access to your device, tell the bank exactly what happened.
Preserve the following before reporting and leaving the group, but do not delay urgent calls to collect everything:
- Payment receipts, amounts, dates, transaction references or UTRs, recipient bank details and UPI IDs.
- Group names, invitation links, administrator numbers, usernames, chats and voice messages.
- The app name, download link, website address, displayed balance and refused withdrawal requests.
- Advertisements, claimed certificates and messages demanding tax, fees or further deposits.
Keep originals and a short timeline. Report the group and numbers through the messaging platform, then block further contact. Include them in your cybercrime complaint. Do not publish bank statements or identity documents in public appeals. Our guide to the first hour after online fraud provides a fuller response checklist.
If your grievance concerns a genuine SEBI-regulated entity, raise it through that entity's official complaint channel first, then use SEBI SCORES if it remains unresolved. SCORES covers securities-market grievances against regulated entities. Where someone merely impersonated a firm, identify that distinction clearly. Do not delay the bank or cybercrime report while pursuing a securities complaint.
Help a family member without blame
Start with: “I am glad you told me. Let us pause payments and check this together.” Avoid arguing about intelligence or greed. Ask permission to review the payment requests and identify the next transfer they are being pressed to make.
If they still trust the mentor, suggest checking one concrete detail together: the broker's official contact or the recipient account. Do not send another “test” payment. Offer to sit with them during reporting, organise receipts and record complaint references. Keep their information private and let them stay involved in decisions. Focus on stopping further payments and getting the facts recorded.
